Congress appoints Balasaheb Thorat as Maharashtra party chief ahead of upcoming Assembly elections

New Delhi: Congress on Saturday made organisational changes in its Maharashtra unit in view of upcoming Assembly polls and appointed senior state leader Balasaheb Thorat as the state party chief. The party also appointed five working presidents - Nitin Raut, Baswaraj M Patil, Vishwajeet Kadam, Yashomati Chandrakant Thakur and Muzaffer Hussain. K. C. Padavi has been appointed the leader of the legislative party. The party releases said that the appointments were made “with approval of Congress president” and did not mention the name of Rahul Gandhi. Gandhi has resigned owning responsibility for the party’s defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. The Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest making body, at its meeting in May had rejected Rahul Gandhi’s offer to step down.